Convicted Vic woman basher to be deported

A Fijian national who seriously assaulted his Melbourne partner in a drunken rage will be deported to his home country now his jail term has been served.

Lemeki Navoto has been fighting to stay in Australia after his visa was revoked in 2017. At the time he was serving nine months' jail for intentionally causing injury, making threats to kill and destroying property.

Navoto arrived in Australia in 2000 and became the father of three children, but has repeatedly broken the law for violent offending - in March 2014 he was sentenced to 18 months' in prison, largely suspended, for assault charges.

In October that same year, Navoto was jailed for 12 months for recklessly causing injury, assault with a weapon, and other violence charges.

A few months later, his visa was cancelled - but he was given a second chance when his right to live in Australia was reinstated during 2016.

However, he blew his opportunity when he was jailed in January 2017 after fresh violence convictions against his new girlfriend.

Media reports at the time said Navoto almost strangled his lover to death with a bedsheet and pushed her face into the mattress, causing her to lose breath for up to 10 seconds.

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His visa was once again revoked in a ministerial decision, deeming Navoto "an unacceptable risk of harm to the Australian community", in a move upheld by the Federal Court of Australia when he appealed.

Navoto admitted he'd assaulted his partner after drinking too much alcohol "to ease my depression and anxiety" but was now "ashamed" of his actions and had become a reformed man.

He appealed the ministerial and Federal Court decision to revoke his visa, claiming he couldn't be treated or medicated properly in Fiji for his depression and anxiety.

Navoto also argued he had no family ties in Fiji, especially with both of his parents now dead, and risked ending up homeless.

"I don't have a life or anything to live for in my country of citizenship," he argued.

On Monday, the Federal Court of Australia upheld the previous decision, saying Navoto had language and work skills that would support his transition back to Fiji, where he was also accustomed to the local culture.

Navoto must also pay the federal government's court costs after taking the matter through the Federal Court.